¶ … Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi leader of the SS. Specifically, it will discuss his direct involvement with the concentration camps and the extermination of the Jewish people. Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) was an unsuccessful chicken farmer and fertilizer salesman who became a leader in the Nazi party in the mid-1920s. As head of the SS as well as the Gestapo, he was a cold, efficient, ruthless administrator. He was the organizer of the mass murder of Jews, the man in charge of the concentration and death camps.
HIMMLER THE EXTERMINATOR
Heinrich Himmler was born in 1900, and studied agriculture. He fought in the very end of World War I, and never seemed to make much of himself until he met Hitler. "Himmler was a passionate farmer. He had studied agriculture for several years, had a degree in agriculture, and was later the chairman of the board of the Organization of Agricultural Graduates" (Hss, 268). Later, Hitler made him Reichsfuhrer-SS (Reich SS Leader) and Chief of the German police. At first, the SS was nothing more than a bodyguard for Hitler, but as the Nazi party grew, so did the SS and their authority, and so did Himmler's. It [the SS] was to be in a position to bring to reality the idea of National Socialism among all phases of life and to be strong enough to break all resisting opposition" (Hss 269). Ultimately, he became head of all German police activities, and his power was immeasurable. However, he still had his critics.
On the dark side for Himmler, some Party leaders, and even Hitler on occasion, thought the Reichsfuhrer-SS mentally unhinged. Alte Kampfer noted that Himmler had experimented early in his career breeding super- chickens. It amused the Fuhrer that Himmler dabbled in astrology and Aryan head-measuring (Goldin).
Eventually, it was Himmler's job to manage the concentration camps and the extermination of the Jewish race according to Hitler's maniacal plan to "clean up" the German race by eliminating anything impure. Before he began exterminating the Jews, he eliminated German mental patients, and had over 300,000 alcoholics, homosexuals, and other "deviants" sterilized. Yet, there are those who believe it was Himmler himself who authored these laws of cleansing and extermination (Hss 276).
The largest group of nonsoldiers...
The German suffering after the first world war and the humiliation of Germany with other nations gave the Nazis the opportunity to feed hatred of the Jews and at the same time promise that if the People gave in to the Nazi ideology, they would be in the land that would hold them a superior way of life. That the followers of Hitler followed the Ideals as true and that
The authorities in charge of Lodz sought to completely separate the Jewish population from the non-Jewish population. Business were marked with the nationality and ethnic identity of the proprietors, which made it easier for Germans to target Jewish-owned stores and Jews were required to wear arm bands and forbidden to leave their houses between 5:00pm and 8:00am. In fact, Lodz was the first area to institute the armbands that
Question Two The doctrine of human rights is one of the chief ideas which are shaped to protect every single human being not self-sufficiently from the race, population or other differences. Human rights are regarding human self-respect and the element that no one can take this self-esteem away or embarrass another person. Human privileges are about the idea that self-respect is an innate "characteristic" of a man and that the unchallengeable
A change of leadership and divisive social forces might pressure such hatreds into re-erupting, but these hatreds are still historical 'products.' A balance between history and psychology is needed to fully understand why mass political atrocities occur. A diffusion of responsibility during the action such as a war or a collective lynching can be a facilitating factor, but the social and historical context must be acknowledged. An authority that validates
It is popularly thought that most Jews went to their deaths 'as sheep to the slaughter'. This is a misconception. What is surprising, as Bauer (1982) notes, is not how little resistance there was but rather, given the conditions that the Jews of Eastern Europe endured, how much. Sources Altschuler, D. Hitler's War Against the Jews, New York: Behrman House, l978 Bauer, Y.A History of the Holocaust. New York: F. Watts, 1982 Gilbert,
Part 1: The Need for an Analytical FrameworkThe Holocaust was one of the most catastrophic events in human history. The purpose of this paper will be to identify and engage primary research resources in a discussion of the causes and effects of the Holocaust. The goal is to identify an analytic framework that can help readers to understand the causes and effects of this tragedy. There are many factors that
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